Professional Sports Can Have A Very Negative Side.

Professional Sports Ruin Athletes:

              An Analysis of Images by a Variety of Contributors on the Impact of Sports

                                                                     Facts

Some athletes under a lot of pressure:Sidney Crosby, and Connor McDavid

Athletes known to gamble: John Daley, and Michael Vick

A few prolific sports injuries: Clint Malarchuck (skate to his throat), and Marcus Lattimore (broken femur, and patella as well as four torn ligaments in his knee)

Some memorable athletes who took their own lives: Wade Belak, Junior Seau, Derek Boogaard, and Mike Flanagan 

                  Many Athletes are affected very negatively by the professional sport they play. There are a lot of different problems involved such as gambling, too much pressure, suicide, and fatal or career ending injuries. This is shown through a variety of image types that demonstrate these issues.

Shakespeare, John. Basketball player shooting the  world.
 Digital image.The Sidney Morning Herald, n.d. Web

Professional athletes have far too much pressure on them. Usually the better the athlete they are, the more pressure they have on them. In many cases when they are on the big stages such as the Olympics, high rated players do not excel at the level they usually would due to the pressure of high expectations from fans, coaches, scouts and even team members. Many players feel like they have the weight of the world in their hands. This picture shows a cartoon basketball player who is shooting the world like a basketball. Just looking at his facial expression he looks happy, however he is holding the world which is impossible, especially to do alone. The whole world is watching him play and if he makes a mistake everyone will see it. The world’s happiness is all in that one person’s shot going in. If it does not go in, people will lose respect for him. It’s not fair to anyone to feel that much pressure on a daily basis. Many athletes experience this feeling when they have thousands of people at their games, or on a national level having the entire world watch them mess up. This is also true for the younger athletes and prospects who people are expecting big things from when they are older. For example: Connor McDavid (NHL prospect) did not do as well in the first few games of the world juniors as he was expected to because of the large crowds watching. This proves that athletes have so much pressure on them every time they play, that it becomes a negative attribute when it affects their play.

Professional Athletes- Golden Source of Income for
  Casinos. Digital image.Ex NBA. N.p., 26 Nov. 2014. Web.

As well, a lot of professional athletes experience gambling addictions during their lives due to the large amounts of money they make. Most athletes make a ridiculous amount of money very young and it does not always make their life more positive. Two examples of players known to gamble obscene amounts of money are Michael Jordan (basketball), and John Daley (golf). This drawing suggests the chances of winning and losing are equally risky by the positioning of the dice. In this image one dice is going into the basket which symbolizes winning, the other not going in which symbolizes losing. Also the basket looks like a drawing but the dice look real. The real dice suggest that when a player loses money, it’s a real problem and they can not take it back. But the problem with the way professional athletes gamble is they keep doing it until they win something because they have so much money to spare, but they end up losing more money than they win. Gambling in athletes is a serious problem that many people do not know about. Therefore, It is clear that this is a very negative part of the industry.

Clint Malarchuck with skate to throat.
Digital image. Photo Bucket. N.p., n.d. Web.

 Also, many athletes experience fatal or career ending 

injuries. In professional sports, the games are tougher, faster and more aggressive. Especially in sports such as hockey and football as they are high impact sports with hard collisions as part of the game. In this image the danger of sports is shown in full view as it demonstrates one of the most prolific sports injuries of all time. In 1989 Clint Malarchuk of the Buffalo sabres took a skate to the throat and almost bled to death on the ice. His body language demonstrates the obvious pain he is enduring by showing his hand on his throat and his eyes pointed down looking at the blood on the ice. He was very close to bleeding to death and his body language shows it. He did not die during this instance; however other athletes have died playing the games they love or not been able to finish their career. The problem with athletes who have their careers ended so abruptly is they have no other jobs to fall back on. They trained for sports their whole life and do not have all the education they need to pursue other jobs.  As well, they could possibly have a physical disability that limits what their everyday life consists of. Thus demonstrating the negative side of sports by showing an athlete almost dying during a game.

              Lastly, many athletes battle with mental illness on a daily basis from the stress of their career. Although athletes may appear happy to the fans, sometimes they have more deep rooted issues. This image is of a headline from when Robert Enke took his own life. He was a professional soccer player who battled with depression. This picture shows him looking unhappy with his downcast eyes and slumped shoulders. This is not the body language of someone who is enjoying their life, career, and fame. Many athletes end up taking their own lives either after their career is over, or during their career because of the stress and immense pressure to excel. Normal people’s lives are not magnified on television at all times, where a professional athlete’s life is always in the spotlight. They can not escape from fans watching their every move and it is hard for them to deal with. Some people can not deal with it at all, just as Robert Enke could not. Another mental illness associated with sports is Alzheimer’s from high impacts. Therefore this demonstrates how sports can affect athletes negatively by showing a man who took his own life because of the game he played.

Sport, Depression and the Death of Robert Enke

. Digital image. N.p., 24 Jan. 2014. Web.

                To conclude, professional sports can affect the athletes involved in a very negative way. This is shown through a variety of images that prove sports can put  too much pressure on individuals, start gambling addictions, create serious injuries, and influence suicide in the athletes.